Seirei Tsukai no Dual Dance
by Fafnir-Haru
Summary: Kazehaya Kamito is the strongest Blade Dancer, Ren Ashbell. He should keep this secret from anyone, but Claire found out that he is Ren Ashbell during their first day meeting each other, will Claire be able to keep this secret? And will Est be able to endure her jealously? While they're busy, Restia is planning something naughty. [I own nothing and I'm not a native speaker... D:]
1. Chapter 1 The Strongest Blade Dancer

**Chapter 1 The Strongest Blade Dancer**

In a small peaceful unnamed village, there's a boy who's playing inside the jungle.  
He's still 6 years old, he is also very energetic for kids his age.  
His parents told him to not play for too far, but he's at his rebellion stage, he didn't care of his parent's warning and kept on playing far from the village.

Since he is still just a little kid, of course he would get lost in the jungle.  
He tried to find a way out but it seems like he's only getting even further into the jungle.

"Where am I...?"

He is starting to get worried.  
He remembered what his parents said back then to not play for too far.  
The sky is also already dark, his parents must be very worried of him now.  
He need to get back soon.

So he ran, ran without a precise direction due to his anxious feelings.  
The mosquitoes and the weeds are getting in his way.  
He waved around his hand to prevent the mosquitoes from getting closer to him.  
But the mosquitoes are too many that he ended up running without looking at where he's running to.

When he realized it, he's already at the edge of a cliff that's around 50 feet height, a dead end.  
If he fell from this height, he will probably dead.  
He turned back to get another route, then...

"*Growl...*"

A wild tiger is behind him, it seemed like the tiger's chasing him when he ran toward the cliff.  
The boy's feet trembled.  
He never felt this kind of horror before, even as a kid, he knew that he will die very soon.  
The tiger slowly approach him.  
The tiger's growl is getting stronger and more often.

"Don't... Don't come here..."

He picked up a stone and he threw it to the tiger.  
But a kid's strength is very not enough to scare a tiger.  
The tiger kept on approaching until he is in its range of killing.  
The boy's eyes are widened in terror.

"GRRRR...!"

The tiger leapt to hold him on the ground so that it can incapacitate him.  
The boy who flinched raise both of his hand in a protective manner.

"Wuuuaaah!?"

The tiger bit his hand.  
The tiger used enough power so that it will not fall from the cliff, but the boy's too weak to handle the force of its leap, so the boy was pushed backward...  
And fell from the cliff with the tiger being dragged with him together.

"WAAAAAAAA!"

Only the scream of the boy that was heard.  
The scream ended with a crashing sound.  
They've fell to the ground.

Thanks to the tiger for being his landing pillow, the boy didn't get too much injury, only a few scratches, but the tiger who fell to the ground first didn't make it, of course.  
The boy's hand stung from the injury of being bitten by the tiger.  
He saw a cave near the place he fell.  
He decided to get inside to have a rest.

His blood kept on dripping.  
If his wound didn't get treated, he might lose consciousness due to blood loss.  
He walked unsteadily to the deepest part of the cave.  
And then, he found a light.  
A gentle light shining from the deepest part of the cave.

"Thank goodness... Someone's here..."

The boy walked unsteadily and finally he reached the light's source.  
It's a small chamber.  
The boy look around the chamber weakly, but he can't find anyone.  
Only a single rock sword, stabbed into a rock.  
The rock's emanating a bright light.  
He approached the sword.

"A sword...?"

He must take the sword so that he can protect himself from beasts like that tiger from before, his natural instict told him that.  
He slowly hold the sword's handle.  
But the rock sword suddenly emanates a bright light.  
It seemed to warn him.

"I... Must get back to my village..."

Keeping that thought in mind, he pulled the sword.  
But the sword didn't move an inch.  
He is still too weak to pull out the sword.  
Not to mention that he's injured.

"Please... I must get back to my village... My parents are waiting..."

" _So that was your wish for the contract?_ "

A voice, a very calm voice.  
The boy heard the voice and he nodded.  
He can't hold for long, he will lose his consciousness very soon and die of blood loss.  
He doesn't even care what was that contract meant.

"Yes... I only want to go home..."

" _... Understood._ "

The rock which hold the sword shattered.  
The next moment, the rock sword also shattered, revealing the white, beautifully shaped sword.  
The sword gave a holy feeling.  
It's handle is silver colored.  
The blade's pure white with a little yellow colored ornament.  
The boy's hand is experiencing a burning feeling.

"WAAAAAA!?"

His hand burns, it's too hot for him to endure, but the burning sensation only lasts for awhile.  
The next thing he saw was...  
An emblem was formed on his right hand.  
A Bluish-silver colored emblem.

"... This..."

The boy's wound slowly regenerated.  
His consciousness is also coming back to him.  
He looked at the white sword he's holding.  
He touched the blade and felt its cold steel sensation.

"Did you heal me...?"

Even a kid like him understood, that his wound is healing because of the sword's holy power.  
The sword's emanating a gentle light, it gave the boy enough warmth, so that he fell asleep.

The boy woke up the next morning.

He doesn't understand why he's not on his bed.  
He looked around the cave.  
And then he remembered, that he got lost in a jungle and fell from the cliff.  
If he didn't found this cave who knows what might happen to him.

He scanned the ground, but the sword that saved his life last night wasn't here.  
He wondered that was he just dreaming about the sword.  
Then, a girl come into the chamber.  
The boy looked at her.

She looked around 9 years old.  
She has a long silver hair.  
Her eyes are gentle blue colored.  
She wears a pair of black knee socks.  
But she is naked.

"W-Who are you? And... Why are you naked?"

The girl tilted her head as he gave him various kind of fruits that who knows where did she picked it up.

"I'm not naked, I'm wearing these knee socks."

Since the boy's still very young he isn't really embarrassed by the view, but it's a common sense that you need to wear something rather than walking around naked.

"However, you still need to wear at least something..."

The boy take off his shirt and lend it to the girl.  
The girl tilted her head again but she still wears it.  
Her body's quite small, so just wearing the boy's cloth is enough to cover her important areas.  
The boy took one of those fruits.

"Thank you for saving me, but what's your name?"  
The boy bite the apple and crunch on it.

"Human's tongue can't spell out my name... So just call me 'Est'."

"Est?"

The boy spelled out the name, no matter what you think about it, that's quite a weird name.  
So the boy asked her again out of curiosity.

"Est, just what are you exactly? I have a feeling you're not a human."

"Correct, I'm a spirit."

Spirit.

Spirits are existences that possessed divine powers that came from the Astral Zero through the Astral Gate, only a very pure shrine maiden that can form a contract with a spirit and to control a spirit and used it for her own benefits. The spirits can appear in two types, a lump of divine power; mass-less and without form, and the other one is The Pure Form; where a part or all of the part of its existence is summoned in a certain form.

The shrine maidens who've formed a contract with a spirit will receive an emblem as the prove of their contract, which later being called 'The Elementalist'.

That's a common knowledge for every single person in human world.  
However, the boy's kind of confused, why he, a boy, can form a contract with a spirit?

"I've introduced myself, now may I know your name?"  
Est asked the boy in return.

"Oh, my bad, my name is Kazehaya Kamito."  
Kamito scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Kazehaya... Kamito..."  
Est leaned to him on all four.

"What is it, Est?"  
Kamito didn't feel embarrassed since he thought that males and females are the same.

"I think... I might like you."

But this topic will surely make him embarrassed.  
His face turned red.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Exactly like what I said."  
Est said with a straight face.  
Kamito wondered if she didn't have any emotion.

Kamito's blushing as Est leaned even closer.

Can't take the embarrassment any longer he stood up.  
Est is looking at him in confusion.

"I-I need to get back to my village! My parents must be very worried already!"

"Okay, let's go."  
Est nodded readily.

Kamito's still wondering why he can make a contract with a spirit, if he still remembered it right, to form a contract he needed to chant an incantation, but Est just form a contract with him without chanting any incantation. He wondered why is that possible.

"Kamito, don't go over there, it's dangerous. Follow me."  
Est warned Kamito when he's heading to the jungle.  
Kamito thought that Est might know the way back home followed her.  
It's true, Est really know where is his home.

"How did you know the way to my home, Est?"

"When we formed a contract I gained access to your memory, so I only need to collect those memories and mix it up with my memories to get a map in my mind."  
Spirits are awesome.  
That's what Kamito's thinking, without her he might be lost again.  
It took them 10 hours of walking.  
The sky's already dark, but they're not too far from Kamito's village.

"I see it! That's my village!"

Just when Kamito's about to ran toward the village, Est caught his hand.  
It seems like she's asking him to wait.

"What happened, Est?"

"... The village is..."

Kamito focused his view on the village.  
There are many people lying on the ground.  
There are so many blood there.  
Kamito's terrified.

"J-Just what happened...?"

"Kamito, use me."

"Use... You?"

Est nodded and she closed her eyes.  
The next instant, her body shone and turned into the pure white sword he saw back then in the chamber. Kamito realized, that Est is asking him to fight.  
He's afraid, but he need to see his parents.

"DAD! MOM!"

Kamito's running around the village.  
Everything's destroyed.  
He wondered just what's happening.  
And then, he reached his used to be home.  
The house's destroyed, only lump of woods that are left.  
He can see a person being flattened by the house.

"DAD!"

The person moved, a bit.  
He look at Kamito.

"Kamito... My son..."

"DAD! Are you okay!?"  
Kamito desperately slashed the woods to free his father from the lump of woods.  
But his father stopped him.

"Kamito... It's too late... Just run... They might be still here..."

"Who are they, dad?!"  
Kamito's tears are flowing.  
He can't bear to see his parents died.

"I don't know... But just... Run..."  
His father died.  
He fell on his knees.

"Dad...?"

The next moment, he can hear footsteps behind him.  
He looked behind and someone he doesn't know, a man in black is there.

"There's a survivor... I think I will take you with me, kid."

"Who are you!? Are you the one who did all of this!?"  
Kamito glared at him with tears still flowing from his eyes.  
He held Est and pointed it toward the man.

"... Spirit user?"  
The man in black was surprised.  
But then, he laughed.

"Fufufu, I see... So that's the case. You will have to come with me, kid."  
The man in black approach him.

"Who would want to come with you!"  
Kamito swing Est toward the man in black, but he's way too weak to fight an adult.  
The man in black avoided it and hit his abdomen.

"G-Guahh..."  
Kamito fell unconscious.

The man in black carry him on his shoulder.  
"Fufufu... The descendant of Demon King Solomon... I never thought I will meet him here."

 **-4 Years Later-  
**  
"Kamito, are you okay?"  
Est is sitting beside Kamito, who's sitting on his bed.

"I never felt anything better than talking with you, Est. Without you, I might've lost my heart long time ago. This place is really a hell."  
Kamito's taken to Instructional School.  
A institution which train chosen children to be a skillful assassin.  
However, they seemed to train Kamito harder than anyone else.

"We need to think of a way to get out of this place."  
Est said with her usual emotionless face.

"That's right, I will wait until I'm strong enough to get out of this place."  
Kamito clench his fists.  
He still have to settle a score with the man in black who he suspected as the one who destroyed his village.

"Oh, so here you are."  
A girl in black.  
She's a very beautiful girl, she looked around 15 years old.  
Her name is Restia.  
She's a darkness spirit.

"What do you want, Restia?"  
Kamito said in a cold tone.

"How cold of you, I'm just coming to pay you a visit."  
Restia sulks.

"Kamito doesn't need a visit from someone he will kill, so go away, Darkness Spirit."  
Est glared at her.  
It's unusual to see Est show her emotion.

"Fufufu, It's fine isn't it? It's not like he will be able to kill me with his current power."  
Restia sat on Kamito's lap.  
Est who saw the scene pushed her so that she fell and sat next to him.

"Don't touch Kamito."  
Est hissed.

"My, how possessive, fufufu."  
Restia giggles.

Kamito doesn't know what should he do with these two girls.  
Est is his contracted spirit, while Restia is a darkness spirit that he must kill by the Instructional School's order so that he can be freed.

"Look, Restia. I don't think you need to always pay me a visit every 3 hours once, right?"

"It's alright, Kamito. Don't mind me, and have fun with that holy spirit over there."  
Restia formed a naughty smile as she take a peek at Est.  
Est was glaring at her.

"Then Kamito, it's been 3 years since you tried to kill me, isn't it?"  
Restia changed the topic.

"Yes, and I still haven't figured any way to kill you."  
Kamito replied her coldly.

"Don't need to be so cold, Kamito. I'm coming here because I'm offering you a deal."  
Restia smiled mischievously.

"Don't hear her, Kamito. It must be something weird."  
Est said as she kept her emotionless eyes and hugged Kamito's right arm.

"Fufufu, don't worry, the deal is very simple..."  
Kamito's eyes widened.

Later, they managed to get out of the Instructional School.  
After they destroyed everything inside.

 **-6 Years Later-**

"That old hag... Just what is she thinking now?"  
Kamito looked at the letter that has the first-rank emblem seal on it.  
Inside his head, 2 voices can be heard.

"I think she planned to do something funny again, Kamito. Just like 3 years ago."  
"No, Holy spirit. She must be planning to do something naughty with him, Kamito's a cute boy after all, fufufu~"

"Shut up, Restia... But I'm starting to think there's a possibility of that happening, too... *Sigh*"  
Kamito's walking around the forest, he got lost because the forest spirits are telling him the wrong direction, even though Est already warned him but he still trust the forest spirits.  
That's his own fault.

"We're going to take years to reach the Areishia Spirit Academy like this."  
Est said in her usual emotionless tone.

"I'm sorry, okay? Uhh..."  
He frowned but then he heard something.  
It sounded like a splash of water.

So he get to the source of voice and...

*Splash*  
A beautiful girl.  
A girl with a dazzling pretty face.  
Her long wet red hair is fluttering.

"Kamito, pervert."  
Est sulks.

"He's a Demon King of the Night after all like what you said, Est."  
Restia approved.

"Shut up!"  
"Eh?"  
Kamito unconsciously blurted out the words that the girl noticed him.  
Kamito quickly spin his mind to think of an excuse.

"Hmm... This is truly an accident, but since I've seen you like this, I must sincerely apologize."  
Kamito politely apologized even though it's even better for him to just run away when the girl's still stunned in place.

The next words coming from his mouth is-  
"But don't worry, I'm a healthy boy, I don't have any interest with a body of a kid."

"Kamito."  
Est sulks again.

"Fufufu, then you like my body, Kamito?"  
Restia teased him.

Kamito swore that he will punish Restia later.  
But the red girl crouched in the water.  
He wondered if he did anything wrong.

"Sixteen-"

"What?"

"I'm SIXTEEN!"

Kamito's dumbfounded.  
"What!? Impossible! A sixteen years old with such a pitiful chest-"  
He quickly covered his mouth but it's too late.

"Fufufu... Fufufu... How dare you..."  
The girl laughed in a scary way.  
Things will surely get ugly.

"I won't help you, Kamito."  
Est sulked.

"Rest in peace, Kamito~ She's an Elementalist."  
Restia giggles.

"What!? W-Wait!"  
Kamito's trying to calm her down.  
But she recited the summoning spell of her spirit already.

 **Guardian of the crimson blaze, keeper of undying hearth!**

 **Now's the time to abide by the blood contract, come forth and do my bidding!**

She was engulfed in a searing flames and from inside, a flame whip can be seen in her hand, an Elemental Waffe. Spirits are very difficult to control, but this girl's able to summon the spirit in a highly-optimized elemental waffe.

"It seems like that's a flame spirit."  
Restia said in an interested tone.  
But she didn't show any will to help Kamito.

 _Hey, I will be dead if you guys didn't help me!  
_ Kamito thought as he watched the red girl swinging the whip on the water's surface which immediately produced steam due to the intense heat of the fire whip.

"You've got some guts, pervert... To peek at me when I, Claire Rouge, am taking my bath!"  
Her face was red either because of embarrassment or anger.

"Wa-Wait! Like I said, it's an accident!"  
Kamito tried to convince her which only results in even worse outcome.

"I don't want to hear any excuse! Turn into cinders!"  
She swing the whip in a horizontal line, Kamito quickly crouched to avoid the whip.  
The whip that just swiped past a tree cleanly cut the tree into 2, due to the very fast movement of the whip, the fire didn't have enough time to incinerate the tree.

Even though she's only using one hand to swing the whip because the other hand's covering her body, she still managed to control the whip properly.  
The girl who's named Claire Rouge kept on swinging while Kamito's running to avoid the attacks.  
"Don't run, pervert! I can't hit you!"

"Don't ask the impossible! Also, I'm not a pervert! By the way-"  
Kamito stopped and pointed at her.

"What!?"

"You need to cover it properly, the gap between your fingers aren't able to hide them completely."

"Eh?"

She looked at her own body and turned red in a second.  
"K-KYAAAAAAAAH!"

She blushed deeply and screaming in a cute voice.  
She quickly hid her chest with both of her hands and crouched down in the pool.

"This is bad."  
Restia said. Est who's sulking didn't say anything.

"That idiot!"  
Kamito run toward her.

She had let go the flame whip and lost control of it.  
The whip severed the trees behind her cleanly.

Slowly, the huge trees crashed down toward her.  
Claire who's closing her eyes in embarrassment didn't notice danger coming from her back.

"Damn... Please make it in time!"  
Kamito kicked off the ground and grabbed Claire's shoulders.

"Eh!?"  
Claire's eyes widened.  
Her red pupils dilated widely.

Kamito ignored her outburst and pushed her down into the water forcefully.  
The moment her hand touched the water, a gust of steam rose and the flame whip disappeared.

*CRASH! DUUUUUN!*

The sound of the trees falling was deafening and it created large water columns.  
Absorbing the heat of the flame, the pond turned warm as the water that was splashed turned into a small rain.

"It seems like I make it..."  
Kamito sighed.  
Claire who's staring at him from below can't say anything.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"  
Kamito asked her.

She shook her head, Kamito helped her stand and he averted his view.  
Since Claire's still naked.

"Um... Thank you..."

"You're welcome, but please wear something first."

"Eh? K-Kyaaaah!"

She hurriedly got out of the water and she head towards the bushes.  
Restia giggles as she watched the girl from Kamito's mind.

"She's quite innocent."  
Restia giggles again.

"All of the shrine maidens that form a contract with spirits are innocent, Restia."  
Kamito sighed as he got out of the water.

"She's back."  
Finally Est talked.

Kamito turn around, there stood Claire with her Areishia's uniform.  
Which looked cute on her.

"Th-Thank you for saving me... I think you're not really a pervert after all..."  
Kamito thanked the Gods that the misunderstanding's finally over.

"It's fine, by the way my name is Kazehaya Kamito, nice to meet you... Claire, if I'm not wrong?"

"Yes, my name is Claire Rouge, but I'm still curious, what are you doing here? This land should be prohibiting men from coming in, are you a skillful spy!?"

 _Woah, where did that came from!?  
_ Kamito thought for himself.

"No, I'm being called by the old ha- I mean Greyworth, Look."  
Kamito showed her the envelope that has the first-rank emblem seal on it.  
If she's really an Areishia Spirit Academy's student, she should know that this seal is real.

"Is that... The first-rank emblem seal of the Empire!? This is really the real one... It also seems to be autenthic... But why did the headmistress called a man here?"

"How should I know... You need to ask the old hag herself."  
Kamito unconsciously blurted out an impolite words.

"O-Old hag!? That's so rude!"  
Claire scolded him.

The Dusk Witch, Greyworth Ciel Mais.  
Is a greatly respected individual by the princess maidens who aimed to become the Spirit-Knights. She is also said to be very popular in the Ordesia Empire and also as popular as Ren Ashbell who's known as the candidate of the strongest Blade Dancer. She retired from the most elite force of knights, 'The Numbers' a decade ago and is still being the feared spirit knight until now.

However, to Kamito, she's nothing but a nightmare.  
Everytime someone mentioned Ren Ashbell, he will shivers when he reminded of what Greyworth have done to him. Yes, he's the Ren Ashbell herself. Due to Greyworth's influence, he need to crossdress to participate in the blade dance 3 years ago. The winner of the Blade Dance will be able to grant 1 wish from the Elemental Lords, but...  
When he's about to head toward the Astral Zero, an accident occured and he's sent back to the human world. The cause is still unknown until now and only Kamito knew about this incident. Everyone in the world thought that he had granted his wish but actually it's not.

"Putting that aside, what are you doing here, Claire?"  
Kamito tried to change the topic.

"I'm doing a 'Purification Ritual'."

Purification Ritual is a ritual to cleanse both body and mind.  
It's used when the shrine maidens will perform a spirit contract.

"Purification Ritual? You already have a spirit, right?"

"You won't understand, Scarlet is an irreplaceable friend, but I need more power than that."  
Claire's eyes are determined.

"If you want to go to the Areishia Academy, it will take 2 hours by walking from here."

"What!? That far away!?"

"You'd better follow this girl, Kamito. You will only get lost again if you go by your own."  
Est suggested.

"Fufufu, but it's more fun if he's lost again, right?"  
Restia giggles.

Kamito sighed and he follow Claire to where she will do a spirit contract.

"Why are you following me?"

"I will get lost again if I go alone after all."

"... Suit yourself."

As they walk, Kamito look at the surroundings.  
Kamito felt like he's familiar with the surroundings.  
 _Wait, this place..._

"... It's the place where I used to be sealed, Kamito."  
Est said it out.

If that so, then Claire's going there for nothing.  
So Kamito's trying to stop her.

"Hey, Claire... I think you'd better head back."

"If you don't want to go just leave me alone, I will not stop after coming this far."

Kamito sighed.  
He will just follow her after all.  
Since he can't just say that the spirit inside that cave was already contracted with him.

 **Fire, illuminate the way.**

From Claire's palm, a small fire appeared.  
The insides of the cave became brighter.  
They walk inside the cave together.

"... Kamito, I can feel something bad's ahead."  
Est warned him.

"I can feel it too, I think you need to stop her now, Kamito."  
Restia also warned him.

Kamito also felt that the air current's different than before.  
"Claire, there's nothing inside, let's head back."  
"You're so noisy! Just shut up and leave if you're scared!"

 _This is bad, Claire won't hear anything else if she's like this...  
_ Just when Kamito's getting even more worried, they've reached the chamber.  
However, like what Kamito said, nothing's inside.  
Except the lump of rocks where Est used to be at.

"There's nothing inside? Impossible! There used to be a sealed spirit here!"  
Claire can't believe her eyes.  
She head toward the lump of rocks.

"Claire, there's nothing here."  
"Shut up!"  
She still tried to find something from the lump of rock.  
But... Suddenly behind her...  
An Astral Gate opened.

"Astral Gate?! Why at a place like this-!"  
Restia's surprised by the sudden appearance of the Astral Gate.

Claire who's searching something noticed that something's wrong so she turn around.  
There's an Astral Gate behind her.

"W-Why an Astral Gate is..."

"-!"

Probably due to his natural instict, Kamito ran and hugged Claire to get out of the Gate.  
Just when Kamito managed to get her out of the gate, a very huge jaw appeared from the gate trying to devour Claire.  
If Claire's still there she would be dead by now.

"I-Impossible!"  
Kamito yelled.

From inside of the gate, appeared a big dark spirit.  
Its skin is all black.  
The aura it emanates is also very deadly.  
It's the Demon Spirit.  
The wild and ferocious spirit that shouldn't be messed with.

"Demon spirit... Huh?"  
Claire stood up slowly.

"Stop, Claire! You didn't intend to form a contract with it did you?!"  
Kamito tried to stop her since he can't possibly reveal his true identity as Ren Ashbell, the strongest blade dancer 3 years ago.

"Shut up, I need a strong spirit, so that..."  
Claire didn't finish her words.  
She began to recite the summoning spell.

 **Guardian of the crimson blaze, keeper of undying hearth!**

 **Now's the time to abide by the blood contract, come forth and do my bidding!**

"Let's begin the hunt, Scarlet!"  
The flames that engulfed Claire subsided, then-  
A hell cat appeared from the flames.

"Scarlet, huh... It's been a long time."  
Restia seemed to know that flame spirit.

"It's a spirit that carries a true name."  
Est added.

Kamito doesn't understand what are they talking, so he just watch Claire fights the Demon Spirit. Claire's blade dance will begin.

"Scarlet! Bite it!"  
Scarlet's burning teeth sunk its teeth at the Demon Spirit.

"Good! Now taste this, Fireballs!"  
Claire cast a rain of fireballs on the Demon Spirit.  
The Demon Spirit roared.

"Scarlet, spin!"  
Scarlet run in a circle motion and flames starts to rose from it.  
It creates a wall of fire engulfing the Demon Spirit.

"So beautiful."  
Restia exclaimed.

Kamito's captivated by the flames and Claire's blade dance.  
But, the Demon Spirit will not lose with only that kind of ability...  
Just when Kamito thought of that, the Demon Spirit charged out of the flames and rams on Claire with its body.

"Kyaaah!?"  
Claire flew backward.

"Claire!"  
Kamito run towards her.  
But the Demon Spirit, not wasting a moment, jumped toward Claire while opening its huge mouth full of sharp teeth.

Time moves slowly.  
Kamito will never able to reach Claire in time.  
Claire's also still stunned as the Demon Spirit approached her.

"A-Ah..."  
Just when Claire's about to get eaten, Scarlet rams on the Demon Spirit, sending it flying toward the wrong direction.

"Scarlet!"

Claire's happy that Scarlet saved her, but...  
The Demon Spirit, opened another mouth from its body, devouring Scarlet who's really close to its body.

"SCARLET!"  
Claire screamed its name.  
Scarlet who've lost its divine power, vanished and returns to the Astral Zero.

Claire's stunned.  
She can't move at all.  
"Claire! Hey, Claire!"

Kamito shook her body, but she didn't move at all.

"Tsk...!"  
Kamito clicked his tongue.  
The Demon Spirit's looking at them even though it has no eyes.

"It's too late to run, Kamito."  
Est said to him.

"Can't be helped... It seems like it's our turn, Holy Spirit."  
Restia sighed.

Kamito really doesn't want anyone to know his secret but he really has no choice.

 **-Dispassionate Queen of Steel, the sacred sword that destroys evil!**

 **-Now form a sword of steel and be the power in my hand!**

"Yes, Kamito. I am your sword, your wish is my command."  
Est said in her cute voice.

 **-O Darkness, devour the flames to become my strength!**

"Fufufu, your wish is my command, Kamito."  
Restia giggles cutely.

"Don't copy my words, darkness spirit."  
Est was annoyed.

And then, the pure white sword on his right hand and the darkness sword on his left hand.  
Kamito charged the Demon Spirit.  
Claire who's watching the scene is dumbfounded.

"Demon Slayer... And Vorpal Sword... It can't be..."  
Claire's amazed by the view in front of her.  
She knew, it's the two swords held by the strongest Blade Dancer, Ren Ashbell.

"HUOOOOO...!"  
Kamito kicked off the ground and perform a lightning quick strike.  
 **  
"Absolute Blade Arts – First Form, Purple Lightning - Dual!"  
**  
The Demon Spirit was hit and vanquished in one hit.  
The power of two legendary swords are not something to be underestimated after all.

"Kamito... Are you..."

"*Sigh*... Claire, can I have a request from you since I saved your life?"

"W-What is it?"

"Please keep my identity as Ren Ashbell a secret, I beg you!"

The first day he came to Areishia Spirit Academy, his identity is unavoidably exposed.  
Just how will his day be from now on?  
Now that someone knew that he's that Ren Ashbell?

 **Chapter 1 The Strongest Blade Dancer End**


	2. Chapter 2 Areishia Spirit Academy

**Chapter 2 Areishia Spirit Academy  
**

"You are REN ASHBELL!?"

Claire can't hold her excitement for meeting the real Ren Ashbell.  
Not only excited, she's also really surprised that Ren Ashbell is a boy.  
Due to Ren Ashbell's dual sword spirits wielding 3 years ago, every people in the human world were astonished. Even until now, every spirit users can only use 1 spirit at the time.  
But, Ren Ashbell was using 2 spirits instead of 1 at the same time.

Many people wanted to question Ren Ashbell's unusual phenomenon.  
They were really excited to figure out why Ren Ashbell can have 2 contracted spirits at the same time, not to mention her divine power seemed to be endless, she can fight her enemies without getting exhausted.

Controlling 2 spirits, not to mention high-class spirits like Demon Slayer, Terminus Est and Vorpal Sword, Restia, requires a very huge amount of divine power. Without a doubt, even Ren Ashbell should be exhausted if she used both of the sword spirits for a long time. But she didn't, this matter was very confusing and exciting for anyone without exception, they were waiting for Ren Ashbell to come back from the Astral Zero after gaining her wish.

She did return to the human world, but before anyone could ask her anything, she leapt through the buildings and disappeared. Many people are searching for her but they didn't find her anywhere.

Rumors about her being the spirit itself or her being a ghost also spread all over the world.  
3 years had passed but not a single person knew anything about Ren Ashbell's whereabouts.

Hence, Ren Ashbell became a legend in the history of Blade Dance.

Meeting with such a legendary existence, anyone would be surprised, that's an obvious thing.  
However, knowing that the legendary existence herself is actually a male is even more surprising than meeting the real person herself, because there never been a male spirit user before in 1,000 years.

"W-Why Ren Ashbell is a B-BOY!?"

"Calm down, Claire... Ugh... I didn't have enough practice..."

It's been 3 years since the last time Kamito participate the Blade Dance, he's not used to the consumption of the divine power by those 2 high-level spirits anymore, so he returned both of them to Astral Zero or he will faint from exhaustion of divine power.

Claire blinked her eyes in disbelief.  
She recognized those 2 swords, there's no way anyone who witnessed in the Blade Dance 3 years ago forgot the weapons used by the legendary spirit user, Ren Ashbell.

She stares at Kamito with glittering eyes.  
Kamito who's exhausted didn't realize that he's being stared at.  
The next moment, Claire held Kamito's hand with both of her hands.

"Eh?"

"Nice to meet you, Ren Ashbell! I'm your big fan! It's really surprising that you're a boy, though... But I still want to meet you!"

Kamito already predicted this reaction, but seeing her being so happy like this made him blushed by Claire's cuteness. Claire's a very pretty girl, she got pure white skin and her scarlet hair's also really dazzling, anyone would love to have her for themselves.

Kamito scratched his head due to the awkwardness.

"Uh... You're not disgusted, knowing that I crossdressed as a girl 3 years ago?"

"Of course I'm disgusted."

The answer hurt Kamito's pure heart.  
He also already expected this answer, since there's no one who will not be disgusted knowing that the beautiful girl 3 years ago that they adore is actually a boy.

"Fufufu, poor Kamito."  
Restia teased him.

"But I think you're cute in that appearance, Kamito."  
Est tried to comfort him, but that's only adding salt to his wound.

Claire closed her eyes and held her hand at her modest chest.  
She looked like she's praying.

"But, I still need to thank you for saving me, Ren Ashbell."

"Ah... You can just call me Kamito... If you call me like that someone might found out about my real identity..."

Even though this place is very far from society there's still a chance that someone might be eavesdropping right now.  
Kamito's just being cautious since he doesn't want more people to know about his identity.  
Claire knew this because he got no choice but to save her from the demon spirit.  
He can't just sit down watching Claire get killed after all.

Claire opened her eyes and tilted her head in a cute manner.  
Even Kamito's taken aback by her.

"Why? So Ren Ashbell is not your real name? You intended to join the Blade Dance this year too, right? Are you going to crossdress again?"

Claire's looking at Kamito in a cute manner, she lean her body forward as she look up at Kamito.  
For some reason, Est is sulking while Restia giggles playfully. Kamito wonder what are those two spirits doing.

"I don't want people to know my real identity, it would be very troublesome if they rampage the Areishia Spirit Academy if they know I'm there. Well, yes... I intended to join it again, if I'm not mistaken it will be held 3 months later...? And NO! I'm not going to crossdress again!"

He already had enough humiliation from being forced to crossdress by Greyworth 3 years ago, so he's not going to do it again. Not a chance.

But Claire just frowned as she put her finger at her lips.  
She seemed to ponder something.

"But... If you don't want to crossdress, wouldn't that mean your effort to hide your identity is just a futile effort? You planned to join the Blade Dance as a boy, right?"

Now that Kamito think about it, she got a point.  
Kamito scratched his head in confusion.  
If this kept on going he will have no choice but to admit that he's Ren Ashbell when the time comes, this is indeed a troublesome matter.

Kamito can trick the academy students and teachers by using Est, since Est's appearance can differs depending on how much divine power used to summon her, if he only use small amount of divine power Est will appear as a small knife, if he applies his assassination skill that he learned during the Instructional School's time in actual combat, he can fight a standard elementalists, but not against strong elementalists or an A-rank spirit like the Demon Spirit from just now.

Claire is waiting for Kamito's answer, she stares at him like a small animal.  
Kamito can't help but feeling embarrassed for being stared like that.  
After thinking for awhile, he finally gave up.

"I think I'll just go with what I have now, the outcome can wait for later!"

Claire's eyes widened in surprise but then she smiled sweetly.  
She's really just like an angel.

"If that's what you want I wouldn't say anything, but it seemed like the sealed spirit in this cave's gone... I wonder who stole the spirit sealed here..."

"Well, who knows?"

Kamito feigned ignorance.  
He knew that this place was used to seal Est before, but there's no way that he can just tell her that right off the bait.

Claire walked in front of Kamito and sulked.  
Kamito who wondered why she suddenly lost her cheerful mood approached her.

"What's up, Claire?"

"Now that I think about it, I'm still too weak..."

She looked really sad and disheartened.  
Kamito wonder why she wanted a strong spirit in the first place.  
But asking that would be so insensitive of him, so he didn't ask her.

"That's not a strange thing, Demon Spirits are powerful, even a soldier from the imperial wouldn't able to defeat it alone."

"But you're able to do it! If only I had an even more powerful spirit..."

"My case is different... Besides, using a strong spirit requires a huge amount of divine power, you can't hold out for too long in a battle..."

"But I also can't do much with a weak spirit! Scarlet is not a weak spirit... But her power's far from enough to reach 'Her' level..."

Kamito doesn't understand what is she talking about, but he got a feeling.  
That Claire wanted to be strong to defeat someone that's pretty strong too.  
Kamito can't help but pat her head out of care.

"Re- I mean, Kamito?"

"You don't need to rush to be strong, everyone has to train in order to become strong."

Claire nodded, but her heart didn't.  
-How can someone strong like you understand how I felt.  
Is what she's thinking.

After pondering over something, she return to her usual self.  
"Okay, enough of this! Let's head back to the academy, I think the Headmistress is very angry since you're so late!"

"I'm not being late, this letter didn't even mention what time should I arrive in the first place."

Claire didn't hear what Kamito said, she just hum a tone and walk cheerfully.  
From Kamito's mind, Restia and Est are talking with each other, Kamito wondered just what are they talking about since their voices are too small.

-What are you two talking about?

Kamito asked them, Restia giggles when she heard Kamito's voice.  
And then she said;

"Listen, Kamito. This holy spirit over here is telling me that you're-!"  
"Shut up darkness spirit. Don't mind her, Kamito. Go and have fun with that girl."

It seemed like Est is covering Restia's mouth, but Kamito still wonder how did she do that?  
Deciding not to bother with this matter too much, Kamito decides to just forget it.

"Still, I'm really curious why a boy like you want to crossdress like that."

Claire's digging on Kamito's old wound.  
He can't help but feeling really embarrassed.  
That's why he doesn't want anyone to found out his identity.

"I have my own circumstance... And it's not something really fun to talk about..."

Kamito sighed.  
If only he can stop Claire from entering the cave he wouldn't have to feel like this.  
Even now, he's still worried that Claire might accidentally blurt out his identity.

"But, Kamito... You're a boy, how can you form a contract with a spirit? Not to mention 2 spirits at once."

"Even I don't know it myself... That just happened like that..."

Kamito showed Claire both of his spirit emblem on both of his hands that are covered by 2 black gloves. Claire examines them but she didn't seem to understand anything.

1,000 years ago, there's another male spirit user before Kamito.  
His name is **Solomon** , he contracted 100 spirits at once.  
He brought despair and deaths toward the surface of the planet.  
He's being feared and being called the Demon King Solomon.

His power was just too otherworldly.  
No one stands a chance fighting with him.  
But, there's a single hero, wielding the Demon Slayer, as known as **Terminus Est**.  
Kamito's first contracted spirit.  
She fought bravely, and killed the **Demon King Solomon** at his lair, but she died along with him afterward.

The hero saved the world from the demon king's hands.  
Hence, she was worshipped by every people on the planet.  
Her name is **Areishia Idriss** , as known as the Sacred Queen.  
To remember her heroic deed, the spirit academy was named Areishia Spirit Academy.

Even though Est is Kamito's spirit now, she didn't remember anything except the present.  
She forgot everything from the past.  
All that she remember is she's Kamito's sword and she was used to slay demon king Solomon 1,000 years ago. She can't recall anything other than that.

* * *

After walking for almost 2 hours, they can see the city now from the forest.  
Claire pointed at the towering building in the city.

"That's the Areishia Spirit Academy."

Kamito look at the huge building which looked like a palace.  
He smiled.

"... I'm back, old hag."

Whispering that, he resumed his walk.  
Claire led him to the front gate of the academy.  
Claire turned around to look at him.

"Should I take you to the headmistress' room? It might be a disaster if someone saw you entering this place since this academy supposed to be off-limit for males."

"I should be fine by myself, but you're right... I don't wish to get in any trouble again, please lead me there, it would also saved my time."

Areishia Spirit Academy.

Is a place where princess maidens and shrine maidens are studying and tempering their skills.  
There is not a single man here, it's literally the heaven for all of the men. But, this heaven is also not a place where they can just enter, entering without any authority means death.

The guards won't show any mercy to trespassers.  
They will be mercilessly kicked out or at worst, killed.  
The Empire already approved of this matter, so they can't sue the academy if anything happen inside the academy.

They made this rule is also to protect the princess maidens inside so that they remain pure until their time to leave the academy, since they need to stay in the dorm until they graduate from this academy to prevent them from being defiled.

"Halt! What do you want to do here!?"

One of the guards came to stop Kamito from advancing forward.  
She looked young, around Claire's age.  
Despite their armor like vest, they still wear the same outfit like what Claire wear.  
The guards are also the students of Areishia Spirit Academy which is called the 'Sylphid Knights'.  
They are a squad created to protect the safety and the peace in the academy.

Claire held out her hand to tell her that it's okay.  
However, the guard seemed to be dissatisfied.

"Who is he? You should know that Areishia didn't accept men, Claire Rouge!"

"He's being called by the headmistress herself."

Kamito showed her the envelope with the first-rank emblem seal on it.

"F-Forgive my rudeness!"

The guard immediately apologized and bowed to Kamito.  
But she seemed to ignore Claire.  
After that, she left them alone.

Kamito noticed it, so he asked;

"What's with her, Claire? She seemed to dislike you."

"... Don't mind her."

Claire's face clearly showed displeasure.  
She didn't want to talk about this matter.  
Catching the situation, Kamito stopped asking.

"It looks like she's a problem child, Kamito."  
"Fufufu, don't say such a mean words, holy spirit. It's so unlike you."  
"Shut up, darkness spirit."

Est is right, if that's not the case there wouldn't be any need for the others to hate her.  
As they walk, Kamito noticed many hate stares directed to her.  
He's really curious just what actually did Claire do so that they hate her this much.

"You seemed to worry about me, don't worry too much, I'm already used to this."

"Used, you say..."

That means this kind of treatment already started for quite a time.  
Kamito's a good man, he can't just let Claire facing bad treatment by herself.  
But he can't do anything, he's just an outsider, an outsider who doesn't know anything about the things happened in this place.

After they walked for awhile, they encountered a blonde girl.  
She's walking with a white wolf beside her.

Having noticed Claire's existence, she made an elegant posture and said;

"Oh, if it isn't Claire Rouge, what are you doing this time?"

She changes her view to Kamito who's standing beside her.  
And then she smiles.  
Claire who noticed that smile, stood in the front.

"What I do is none of your business, Rinslet Laurenfrost."

The blonde girl's name is Rinslet Laurenfrost.  
Kamito recognized the name.

She's from the High-Class Noble Laurenfrost's family.  
She has a pair of emerald green eyes.  
they strangely matched with her beautiful blonde hair.

Kamito was captivated by her beauty, but then Claire stepped on his left foot forcefully.  
Est seemed to say something while Restia giggles, she really loves to giggle. But Kamito didn't hear them because his foot is in pain.

"Ouch! What was that for!?"

"you looked stupid, so I need to wake you up."

"I agree."  
Est said.

"Fufufu, how dishonest."  
Restia said as she giggles.

-Where did your respect toward Ren Ashbell go?  
He wondered.  
But that's not the point here, they looked like they will have a fight anytime.

He can feel the aura surrounding this area is both cold and hot.  
The wolf beside Rinslet's baring its teeth as it growls.  
It looked like it's very ready to engage in a battle.

"I'm curious just how did you bring a man to this place, but he's not really bad to be my servant, I think I might like him as my servant."

"S-Servant!? How dare you treat Re- I mean Kamito as a servant!?"

Kamito's heart almost jumped out of his mouth when Claire almost mentioned 'Ren Ashbell'.  
Good thing that she remembered his name.

Rinslet's wolf starting to fade as her divine energy started to gather around her right hand.  
She's going to summon her elemental waffe.

 **-Undying Ice that freezes even the flames itself, come and obey my orders!  
** _(I'm too lazy to find the summoning spell, so yeah... I made it up, sorry!)  
_  
A beautifully shaped ice arrow formed from Rinslet's hand.  
The ice crystal glitters prettily.  
Kamito's at awe.

Different than Claire's Flame tongue, which is the embodiment of the flame's fury.  
Rinslet's Ice arrow is the embodiment of the ice's stillness.  
Completely froze those who saw it at their place by its beauty.

Claire on the other hand, completely unfazed, also summoned her flame tongue at her hand.  
Fighting among the students of Areishia Spirit Academy is forbidden, if they really fight here...

Things won't just get off with only a single 'sorry'.

"Stop! Why are you two fighting each other?!"

Kamito stepped forward and stopped them from fighting each other without any good reason.  
But Claire and Rinslet didn't seem to care of what is he saying.  
They're glaring at each other.

"Step down, Kamito. I need to settle a score with her."

"Your name is Kamito, huh? Why don't you be my servant? I will treat you really nice."

Rinslet winked at him.  
Kamito can't help but flustered when being winked by a cute girl like that.  
Claire who witnessed the scene gnashed her teeth and strangled Kamito's neck.  
She pulled him toward her.

"Ueegh!?"

"Oh, I forgot! We still need to meet the headmistress! Let's go, Kamito!"

Using that as an excuse, she pulled Kamito with her and walk past Rinslet who's dumbfounded.  
She didn't understand just what kind of relationship that they have.  
Just when she's wondering about it, a maid appeared behind her.

"Milady, so you're here...! *Pant*"

The maid seemed to have ran all over the academy to find her.  
But Rinslet who's watching Claire left, didn't care about her.  
She just walked ahead, returning to her dorm.

"Let's head back, Carol. There's nothing left to do here."

"Wait me, milady!"

The maid chased her desperately.

At the other side, Kamito's being strangled by Claire's flame tongue.  
Since Scarlet's still recovering her divine power, Claire can only use an incomplete flame tongue.  
It's not hot, but enough to strangle someone.

"L-Let me go... I can't breathe!"

Kamito's trying to remove the whip from his neck desperately.  
Claire looked around, probably to make sure that Rinslet is gone.  
She finally removed the whip that strangles his neck.  
Kamito took a deep inhale once he's finally able to breathe again.

Claire looked at him with a sad look.  
She didn't understand why she did that to him.  
She suddenly turned angry when she saw him looking at Rinslet in awe.

"Are you okay, Kamito?"

"I'm not okay... Who's that girl?"

"... She used to be my childhood friend."

Kamito tilted his head.

"She 'used' to be?"

Claire nodded, but she didn't say anything more than that.  
It would be the best to not pry into this matter anymore.

"Forget it... Now where's the old ha- I mean, Greyworth's room?"

Facing Claire's deadly glare, he corrected himself.  
It took him so long to just visit Greyworth's room.  
He really wanted to finish this matter quickly and leave.  
He just doesn't want to have anything to do here anymore.

Claire pointed at a door beside him.  
He looked at the door sign;

-Headmistress' Room

"I see, thank you for bringing me here, Claire."

Actually Kamito already knew where is Greyworth's room because 3 years ago he used to come to this academy and being mistaken by Greyworth as a girl due to his cute face, but he just doesn't want other girls in this academy freaked out when they see him, going with Claire helped quite a lot. He also can't be sure that the room didn't change after 3 years. It saved his time to explain things and to find the room, except for when she quarrels with Rinslet.

Kamito patted Claire's head.  
She seemed to like it.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Claire. I should be fine by my own now."

"You're welcome..."

She seemed like she also want to enter Greyworth's room, but she will be most likely not allowed to enter since what Kamito and Greyworth are going to talk is something pretty important.

So she will just wait outside.  
Kamito smiled at her and knocked the door.

*Knock Knock*

"Come in."

Kamito can hear a voice from the room.  
He opened the door and walked inside.

There, he saw a girl that wore the same type of armor that the guard from just now wore.

"I can't accept this, headmistress! To accept a man in this academy is just too...!"

"Elis Fahrengart, do I need to repeat my words?"

The girl whose name is Elis Fahrengart couldn't say anything in return to the pressuring gaze of the 'Witch', Greyworth Ciel Mais.

Elis gnashed her teeth as she apologized.

"I-I'm sorry..."

After that, she turned around to glare at Kamito and walk straight to the door.  
She closed the door with a slam.

"What have you done, Greyworth?"

Kamito stare at her, the 'witch' with troubled look.  
Greyworth chuckled as she held her pen.

"She's simply one of the opposition team that objected your coming to this academy."

Greyworth smirked as she wrote something on a paper.  
Kamito who has nowhere to sit, stood in front of her desk.

"It's been 3 years, isn't it? Time sure flies, don't you think so?"

Greyworth smiled.  
Even though she didn't seem to get old, she's actually already at the age where she should've stop working and rest at home.  
That's why Kamito called her old hag.

"Yes, and you didn't even change a bit, old hag."

"And you changed a lot, show some respect to the elders. I still remember the polite you 3 years ago when you called me miss Greyworth back then, fufufu."

"Shut up, old hag..."

Kamito's embarrassed when he recalled of his 3 years ago self.  
Back then he really thought that Greyworth is still a young woman, but when he knew the truth he's really ashamed of himself that he can't even beat someone who's already over-age.

But even though she is an old woman, she's still his teacher, who taught him how to fight and taught him the **Secret Blade Arts** skills that he used in the Blade Dance 3 years ago.

"Judging from the way you act, you seemed to expose your identity to someone already, no?"

This question almost stopped his heartbeat.  
But good thing he can still remain calm.

"No, there's no way I would let anyone know about my real identity."

Greyworth stares right into his eyes.  
Just from looking, Kamito knew.  
It's impossible to lie to the 'Witch'.

Hence, he sighed.

"You're right, it's an unexpected accident, an Astral Gate suddenly opened and an A-rank demon spirit came out from it."

"Demon Spirit?"

Greyworth narrowed her eyebrows.  
She can't believe that a demon spirit appeared at the human world.  
It's not impossible, but it never happened before.

"It seems like I've got to investigate something after this."

Greyworth took out her thick book.  
It's probably around 3,000 pages.  
Kamito started to get dizzy just from looking at the book.  
Since his intention coming here is not to watch Greyworth read her book, he took out the envelope he received from her.

"You called me here, what for, old hag?"

"... Claire Rouge, come in."

"Hyaah!?"

Claire, who's eavesdropping until now yelped in surprise.  
Her voice is very cute that anyone would be in glee because of her.  
She opened the door timidly and entered the room.

"Y-Yes, headmistress?"

"If you want to hear it you should just come in, not just eavesdropping."

Greyworth didn't look at her but she knew that Claire's beside Kamito now.  
Kamito look at Claire and said;

"I thought you're back already, eavesdropping is not good you know."

"S-Shut up! So what if I'm curious!"

"You can flirt as much as you want afterward, but not in front of me."

Upon hearing the word 'flirt' Claire blushed.  
She's red to her ears but Kamito just sighed.

"Why are you calling her in, old hag?"

"Ren- I mean Kamito! Show some respect!"

"Fufufu, it's because she already knew your identity so there's nothing wrong if I tell her everything, the reason why I call you here is because you still want to participate in the Blade Dance, right?"

Kamito nodded.  
Because his wish haven't been fulfilled yet.  
Even until now, he's still wondering what happened back then.

"You only have 3 months to prepare yourself, judging from your current state, I doubt you can hold for long in a blade dance."

Greyworth's completely correct.  
Kamito's divine power's not as much as he used to have.  
His skills and his divine power dulled due to lack of practice.

"Fufufu, that's why I adviced you to at least train yourself in mountain, but you kept on living so leisurely, I hope that nothing troublesome happened."  
"Shut up, darkness spirit. Kamito also wanted to have a peaceful life."

Kamito's really thankful that Est cover up for him.  
But Restia's still right to the point, if only he followed her advice he won't have to face such a crisis, he doesn't have much time to train.

"You need to make use of your time effectively. If you don't, 'She' will certainly defeat you."

"... 'She'?"

Greyworth stares at him intently.

"You should know what I mean."

"Don't tell me..."

Claire who doesn't understand anything can only stay silent.

"-She's back, 'Ren Ashbell' is going to participate in the next Blade Dance this year."

* * *

"What's up, Claire? You looked really restless."

"... How can you be so calm, instead!"

Kamito and Claire are currently staying in the same room.  
How did they ended up like this?

Not too long ago...

"Regarding your class, you're going to get in the Raven Class, the same class as Claire Rouge."

"I see, then I will count on you from now on, Claire."

"Eh? Ah, okay."

Claire nodded readily.  
Greyworth looked like she just remembered something, and;

"Also Kamito, you're going to stay in Claire Rouge's room, you have one empty space in your room, right, Claire Rouge?"

"What!?"

Claire can't help but yelped in surprise.  
Suddenly being forced to stay in the same room with someone with different gender is just too much for her, who's an innocent princess maiden to take.

"Since if Kamito's staying in other place there might be a chance that someone might found out that she's Ren Ashbell, the best option is to put him in your room, who already knew about his identity. Don't worry, if he did anything indecent feel free to report it to the Sylphid Knights, I'm sure Elis will turn him into a mince meat."

"Don't say such a horrible thing so leisurely!"

Kamito lets out an outburst.  
But Claire who's not used to men will not approve of this of course.

"No, headmistress! He might saw me when I'm bathing or he may sniff at my clothes!"

"That seemed like something Kamito would do."  
"I must agree with you this time, darkness spirit."

Restia and Est could hear everything that Kamito hear, that's why they felt like to tease him.

"Why in the world would I do that?!"

Kamito who's being treated as a pervert can't suppress his calm anymore.

"Claire Rouge, this is a command. If you think that's too much for you, you can live alone at other place, but I doubt anyone would want to have you in."

"... Ugh..."

"Hey, old hag! You're being too strict!"

Kamito might not like Claire too much, but he can't just stay quiet letting Greyworth decides things one-sidedly like this.

"I already said it, right? If you have anything to complaint about, just report it to the Sylphid Knights, they have the authority to execute anyone who disturbed the public morals."

"But still..."

"Or you would prefer sleeping outdoor, Kamito?"

"... Tsk..."

If it's only him, he's fine.  
But he can't possibly let Est and Restia who's a girl to sleep outdoor.

"Then, it's decided. You two are dismissed."

Saying that, Greyworth return to her book.  
She seemed so busy.

They can't voice out objections, so they can only return to Claire's room in defeat.  
The 'witch' can't be defeated no matter what, Kamito should understand that the most.

"I can't believe this... I'm glad that I can be in the same room with Ren Ashbell, but that's only if you are a girl!"

"I'm sorry to be a boy, but it's not like I have a choice! That old hag is just too hard to deal with!"

"She maybe strict, but show her more respect!"

"Whatever..."

Kamito give up, Claire didn't see Greyworth as a bad woman, even though she forced her to stay together with Kamito, she still respected her as a great spirit knight.

Scarlet who already recovered her divine power is walking around the room.  
She seemed to look for something.

"Good thing I have Scarlet here, If you tried to do anything funny... Cinders."

"I wouldn't do something like that."

Kamito slept on the other bed, since the room's originally meant for 2 people, but Claire's roommate moved to the other room about 3 years ago. So until now, she's sleeping alone with Scarlet.

"I think I should eat something..."

"You're going to cook? But I don't see any stove here?"

"Stove? Of course I have it, Scarlet."

Scarlet jumped on a table and lit fire at its tail.  
Claire's heating the water by using Scarlet's fire.

"To think that you used a high-class fire spirit to cook your food... You really made many unfortunate spirit users became your enemy."

"It's fine, I don't really need a friend after all."

Kamito found that Claire's acting strange.  
It seems like she's trying to endure something.  
But he doesn't want to pry into her affair too much.

Claire finished cooking her instant noodle.

Kamito who saw that sighed and checked at her fridge to see if there's anything to cook.  
But he's really surprised to see what's inside the fridge.

"Your fridge's filled with so many soft drinks! And you only have instant noodles for your food!?"

"It's cheaper, and soft drinks are tasty... What's wrong with it?"

"Everything! You will get sick if you live like this! Arrgh... Hm? You have canned vegetables and meats too?"

"Canned foods are easy to eat and they don't need to be cooked."

Kamito sighed at Claire's lifestyle.  
He took some of the canned foods.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop eating that noodle, I will cook something more appropriate for you to eat."

Claire tilted her head in confusion, but she still nodded and stopped eating.  
After waiting for about 30 minutes, Kamito finally came out from the kitchen.

"Sorry for the wait."

He put a plate of salad, meatball soup, tomato sauced fried egg, and the last one is fried fish.  
Claire looked at the foods in disbelief.

"You can cook, Kamito?"

"A bit, I learned cooking from the part time job I took these 3 years and my survival life at the jungle. Well, I don't know about the taste, though. Try it."

"Umm."

Claire nodded and took one of the meatball.  
She ate it.

"How is it?"

"It's delicious! You're really a great cook!"

"This is nothing, everyone can cook this with enough practice."

"But it still is very delicious!"

Claire kept on eating as she let Scarlet have some of the foods.  
Scarlet is chewing on a fried fish.  
She seemed to like it.

"You fed her too?"

"Since she like it I don't think it's wrong?"

Spirits doesn't digest foods in their body, the food they eat are converted to divine power, instead.

After they finished eating, Claire lay down on her bed, satisfied.

"Hyaahn... It's been a long time since I have a decent meal like this..."

"Don't lay down on your bed after eating, you will turn to cow."

"That's just a superstition."

Saying that, Claire fell asleep.  
Kamito sighed and pulled the blanket to cover Claire's body.

"You'll catch cold if you just sleep like that... Hm?"  
Kamito noticed that Scarlet's brushing her face against his leg.  
Kamito smiled as he stroke Scarlet's head.

"Kamito, you're a jerk."  
"Good words, holy spirit. He's having an affair even though he already has us."  
Est and Restia appeared in their human form.  
They're standing behind Kamito, that's why he didn't notice them.

"Est? Restia, too?"

"Meeow~"

Scarlet walked away from him and brushed her cheek at Est's leg.  
Est crouched down to stroke her chin.

"Oh my, isn't she cute?"

Just when Restia's about to touch her, Scarlet hissed.

"It looks like she hates you, Restia."

"Sh-Shut up!"

Restia pouted.  
Kamito's tried his best to suppress his laughter, good thing that he managed to do it.  
Est's playing with Scarlet's paw like a kid.

-Maybe Est likes Scarlet too.  
Kamito thought.

"Now, Kamito."

Restia linked her arms to Kamito's left arm.  
Kamito who still haven't caught the current situation reacted a little too late.

"Now that the holy spirit is having fun, why don't we have our 'Happy time'?"  
Restia smiles seductively.

"Re-Restia, hold on..."

Est, who noticed that Restia's making her move, stood and pulled Kamito's right arm.

"Kamito is not yours."  
"He's also not yours."  
"I exchanged vows with him first."

They are playing tug of war with his body.  
Good thing that Claire's sleeping.

Now that he noticed it, Est is wearing the same blouse like Restia's, the only difference is the color, Est's blouse is pure white colored.

"Why don't you two stop already... You might wake Claire up."

"Not until the holy spirit let go."  
"If the darkness spirit didn't let go, I don't want to let go."

Kamito sighed.  
He wondered just how will his life at Areishia Spirit Academy be if those two are around.

 **Chapter 2 Areishia Spirit Academy End**


	3. Chapter 3 Hell Cat and Ice Demon

**Chapter 3 Hell Cat and Ice Demon  
**

The next morning, Claire woke up as she rubbed her eyes.  
She still looked sleepy.

"Urgh..."

She looked around and found that Scarlet's sleeping beside her.  
She stroked the hell cat's head.

"Hyahn."

But then her ears heard something totally unexpected.  
She should be the only girl in this room, how in the world there is another girl's voice.

So, Claire turned her body around.  
There she witnessed...

Kamito's sleeping with two girls in his arms.  
And Kamito's hand is touching a black girl's bottom. (Kamito's still sleeping so he doesn't know what is he touching.)

Claire can feel her body temperature rising.

"... K-K-K-K-KAMITOOOOO!"

She yelled at him.

* * *

"What? They're both your contracted spirits!?"

Claire found it hard to believe.  
She knew that spirits can manifest into a living beings like animals.  
But this is her first time seeing spirits that can manifests into human form.

"... Yes, this white girl here is Terminus Est the Demon Slayer, and the black girl here is Restia the Vorpal Sword."

Kamito explained as he rubbed his head which is being kicked by Claire when he's sleeping.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Restia. Your name is Claire Rouge if I'm not wrong?"  
"Nice to meet you, I'm Est."

"Ye-Yes... But why are you two wearing similar outfits? Are you two possibly...?"

"This holy spirit is my little sister."  
"No, I'm certainly not this darkness spirit's little sister, we spirits can create clothes with our divine power as we want, although it's not as perfect as the real one."

The reason why Est is wearing the same cloth like Restia's is because she didn't know what kind of girl's clothes that will look good on her.

"I see... So, Kamito... Are you actually already... Used to sleep with them?"

Claire's looking at him with scary smile.  
It seems like her respect toward Ren Ashbell's already crushed to pieces.

"It's not me who summoned them, they can come out from the Astral Zero by their own free will, I have completely no control of them. Regarding this morning's accident... They sneak into my bed when I slept, that's all."

"Kamito is a jerk."  
"How dare he say that we sneaked into his bed when clearly he's the one who invited us to sleep together... You have to take responsibility."

"Re-Responsibility!? K-Kamito! You-You couldn't be-!?"

Claire's face is all red imagining weird things.

"Woah! Wait, Claire! And Restia! Stop your jokes! It's not funny!"

Kamito panicked when Claire stood up suddenly while hot aura emanating from her.  
He will be fried alive if Restia didn't clear the misunderstanding.

"What do you mean by joke? The three of us really did get on the bed, engaged into an act of passion and intensity, then fell asleep afterward, right?"  
Est nodded in agreement.

"T-T-TURN INTO CINDERS!"

Kamito's scream could be heard at the whole dorm.  
Good thing that no one suspected the scream.

* * *

"S-So you're just playing cards? I see... I mistook the meaning, ehehe."

Kamito's laying down on the floor without any power to get up after being fried by Claire's flames. Good thing that Est explained everything that Kamito didn't have to die.

"Fufufu, innocent girls sure is fun to tease."

Restia giggles as she looks at Claire.  
Claire can't help but blushed.

"I-I didn't think that would be the case, okay! Anyway both of you are too close with Kamito this morning, did you two always do this everyday?!"

"I think we've been doing this for 3 years that Kamito already used to it, right, Est?"  
"-How should I know?"

"What a troublesome spirits... I felt bad for Kamito."  
Claire sighed.  
If only it's her who owns Restia and Est who knows what will happened.

"... Ugh... You should restrain yourself more Claire! What if you really killed me!"

"It's because I never thought you're such a pervert!"

"Kamito is not a pervert."

Est stood up to cover for Kamito.  
Kamito was touched by Est's kindness.  
But then-

"He is the demon king of the night who's capable of conquering any girls."

*Gogogogogo!*

"Ca-Calm down, Claire! I swear I never touch any other girl before!"

"Kamito, so you treated me as a thing?"

Est look at him, pouting.  
Kamito scratched his head in confusion.

"Aaaaargh... I don't know what's right and what's wrong anymore!"

Saying that, he jumped out of the window.  
He escaped from Claire's room.

"Ah! Kamito! You haven't change into your uniform!"

Claire who just realized that this is the first day for him to enter Areishia Spirit Academy called out for him, but Kamito kept on running.  
She sighed and she looked at the other 2 spirits.

"Is he always that clumsy to you two?"

"Fufufu, he's always being so cute."  
"... I don't know."

Est shook her head.  
Claire felt that Est might be the closest person to Kamito.

* * *

"*Pant* *Pant* That Claire... Uah!?"  
"Kyaa!?"

Kamito bumped into someone when turning at a corner.

"I-I'm sorry! Are you alright?!"

Kamito quickly got up and he offered his hand.  
The girl held his hand and slowly got up.

"I'm okay... Hm? You are..."

The girl stares at Kamito's face.  
Kamito also recognized her.  
Her long beautiful blonde hair and her pretty emerald green eyes.

"You... If I'm not wrong, Rinslet Laurenfrost?"

"Yes, I'm glad you remember my name Kamito, now that you've bumped into me why don't you apologize while pleading to be my servant?"

"I'm not going to throw away my pride just like that."

Rinslet pouted.

"Really? Even though you're all dere-dere toward Claire."

"I don't understand what are you talking about, but Claire and I also just met yesterday."

"Oh really?"

Rinslet stares at his eyes.  
And then she sighed.

"I guess you're not lying."

Rinslet's able to find out if that someone's lying or not with her stare.  
She's taught how to by her father, the duke of Laurenfrost family.

"How did you ended up meeting Claire?"

"Well... When I reached the city I don't have anyone to ask direction to, so I ask her who's wearing the academy's uniform at the time."

There's no way he can say that he peeked her bathing in the jungle.  
Rinslet nodded.  
Looks like she didn't suspect him.

"I see, I get the point up to this point, but why are you staying in her room?"

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, I happened to past the hallway and I saw you entering her room."

Kamito's pondering.  
Should he say that he's being forced to by Greyworth or he lie about this.  
After thinking for awhile, Rinslet spoke again.

"If it's a privacy I won't ask, after all a spirit user won't be able to summon spirit again if they're impure, so it's easy to find out if you made a move on her or not."

Rinslet made an elegant posture as she said that.

Kamito smiled wryly.  
What Rinslet said have a point after all.

"Now that we've met, why don't you visit my room later, after we get back from academy?"

"Hm? For what?"

"Rather than staying with Claire who's furious it's better to be my servant, right?"

"I'm sorry, but I really don't plan to throw away my pride."

Kamito bowed politely.  
Rinslet sighed.

"What milady said is she wants to have you for herself."

"C-Carol!?"

The maid behind Rinslet, Carol, is translating Rinslet's languange.  
Kamito's dumbfounded.

"Have me for yourself-?"

"D-Don't misunderstand! I just don't want you to suffer for staying with her!"

"Kamito will not stay with you, because he is mine."  
Est, coming out from nowhere is hugging Kamito's left arm.

"Est!?"

Kamito's really surprised that Est suddenly appeared like that.  
He knew that spirit can appear anywhere as long their contractor's there, but the timing just now is too... Perfect.

"Is she your girlfriend, Kamito?"

Rinslet looked at Est's face.  
Feeling embarrassed, Est hid behind Kamito's arm.

"She's..."

Kamito almost blurted out that Est is the demon slayer.  
If he said something like that Rinslet will doubt that he might be Ren Ashbell.  
Spirits that are able to manifest not to mention into human form are high-ranked spirit, since he planned to use Est's power at the minimum point, Est can't possibly manifest to human form since her power can't even be considered very high when in the small knife form.  
So Kamito decided to play with it.

"She's my girlfriend indeed, so I can't possibly have an affair with Claire."

Kamito patted Est's head.  
Kamito's face went red when he said that, but he has no choice.  
Est's face is even redder than his face as she buried her face into Kamito's arm.  
He really hoped that Restia won't appear now.

"I-I see... Hahaha, but... this girl's really cute, how old is she?"

Rinslet is staring at Kamito with a strange look.  
She must be thinking that he's a lolicon.

"... Uh..."  
Est looked like a 9 years old from the outside.  
What age will be acceptable for her build?  
Hence, Kamito decided.

"She's 13 years old."

"... I thought you're a lolicon or pedophile, but I guess that's acceptable considering your age is 16, hmph."

Rinslet looked away in displeasure.

Now that Kamito noticed it, Rinslet has a similar body height with Claire, but her bust size is bigger than that Claire's.  
Est who noticed his gaze stepped on his foot.

"Ow! Hey, Est!"

"... Pervert."

-Woman's intuition is really fearsome.  
Kamito thought.

"So there you are, Kamito! *Pant*"

Claire found Kamito after running around to find him.  
She brought Kamito's uniform with her.  
Rinslet who saw her made an elegant posture and said;

"Oh, Claire Rouge, fancy to meet you here."

"-Rinslet Laurenfrost..."

Kamito can feel the hot and cold aura again.

-They're not going to fight again aren't they?  
Kamito thought.

"Hey, you two..."

"Oh, I just remembered, you forgot your uniform! Go and get change!"

Claire shoved the uniform to him.

"Oh, thank you, Claire."

"It's nothing, hurry up or we'll be late!"

Claire rushed Kamito as he pushed him from behind back to the dorm.  
Est was following them from behind.  
Once again, Rinslet's being ignored by Claire.

"... Kamito, Est, and Claire Rouge... Hmph."

Rinslet look away and head toward the academy.  
Carol who's behind her followed her clumsily.

"To think you will jumped out of the window, I can't believe you!"

"It's better than being fried alive by you."

"Fufufu, Kamito's being irresponsible."  
"Kamito, bad."

Restia and Est are forcing him to admit his own fault, even though he did nothing wrong.  
After he changed into his academy uniform which fits him perfectly to the point it's scary, they head toward the academy.

To avoid more attention, Restia and Est return to the Astral Zero.

"By the way, Kamito, I forgot your full name, what is it again?"

"-Kazehaya Kamito, you don't really need to remember my full name, I'm only staying here until the Blade Dance is over after all."

Claire nodded.  
And then she said;

"It's okay, I'm going to be the only student who knew Ren Ashbell's true full name after all."

She grinned.  
Kamito's fascinated by her face, so he looked away.

"Fufufu, Kamito sure is weak against girls."  
"Kamito is the demon king of the night, there is no girl he can't conquer."

-Oh shut up...  
Kamito said to them.

"You're so cruel toward your girlfriend, Kamito."  
Est pouts.

"... Girlfriend?"

(Restia, don't get the wrong idea, it's because I need to hide my identity from the others when she suddenly appeared like that.)

"Kamito, you jerk."  
"I see, fufufu."

-She must be planning to do something funny again.  
Kamito sighed.

Kamito entered the Raven Class, the class where Claire's in.  
He looked around and found an empty seat.

Just when he's about to head there, Claire coiled her whip at his neck.

"Uegh!"

"Where are you going to, Kamito? You're going to sit with me."

-Why should you use your whip to drag me!  
Kamito cursed.

One moment later, an ice arrow flew to pierce the whip.  
Kamito's freed from the whip.

"Fuah! Finally! *Pant*"  
Kamito tried to catch his breath, and he saw Rinslet who's aiming the bow at Claire.

"What a bad treatment toward newcomer, Claire Rouge. He clearly wanted to sit with me."

"Rinslet Laurenfrost! How much longer are you planning to disturb me!"

(... No, I don't plan to sit with you two.)

Kamito's agonizing while catching his breath.  
Restia is giggling while Est stays quiet.

"Fufufu, having 2 girls fighting over you, how do you feel, Kamito?"  
"Kamito is a jerk."

(Enough of this already...)

Kamito really didn't plan to meet or get close with anyone, because he doesn't want to have any bond with students in this academy, he just wanted to stay in the shadows and disappear after the Blade Dance is finished.

Claire summoned Scarlet while Rinslet summoned her Fenrir.

"Don't fight at this place, you two!"  
Kamito tried to stop them, the other classmates are keeping distance as if they are already used to this scene already.

'The Hell Cat and the Ice Demon are fighting again.'  
'I think this is their way to show that they're completely in a good relationship.'

"What nonsense are they talking about..."  
Kamito said.

But if he looked at Rinslet and Claire's faces, they are smiling.  
It looks like they're enjoying this.

-But why?  
Kamito thought.

"Enough, all of you get back to your seat. Claire Rouge and Rinslet Laurenfrost, are you two want to lose your credits?"

Someone come in.  
It looks like she's their teacher.

"... Tsk."

Claire clicked her tongue as she pulled Kamito to her seat.  
Rinslet sat on her seat again without complaining.

"Kazehaya Kamito, please stand in the front of the class and introduce yourself."

"If you're still going to introduce yourself why must she told you to sit down, what a weird teacher indeed, fufufu."  
"I think she hated Kamito."

(That goes without saying, I'm a male after all, of course every girl will feel troubled if a boy suddenly joined them without warning.)

Kamito walk to the front of the class and faced the students.

"My name is Kazehaya Kamito, 16 years old. My favorite food is Katsudon."

Upon hearing that, the class started to whispers.

'You hear that? I was very sure that he would say he love girl's underwear!'  
'I almost thought he would say he love virgin girls...'  
'What is virgin?'

"They are truly innocent, fufufu."  
"Kamito, don't you dare to make a move on them."

(Why would I?)

Kamito sighed.  
Then someone raised their hand.

"Um... Kazehaya-san, may I know what's your relationship with Claire Rouge?"

"With Claire? Well..."

Claire's glaring at him, trying to convey him to not saying something weird.  
He can't possibly say that they're roommate.  
So he decided to say that;

"She's my acquaintance that I met before meeting you guys."

They sighed in relief.

-Just what are they trying to say?  
Kamito wondered.

"If no one's going to ask again I will introduce myself, I'm Freya Grandol. The teacher for this Raven Class, just to tell you this, I don't like men. Also, you seemed to know Claire, so you can sit with her."

-Well, that's to be expected.  
Kamito said in his mind.

After that he returned to Claire's seat.

Since Kamito's target is to join the Blade Dance he didn't try to understand what's Freya Grandol's explaining in front of the class.

"Kamito, are you really going to leave after the Blade Dance?"

"Yes, I don't have anything to do anymore after the Blade Dance, after all."

"Umm..."

Claire looked down sadly.  
Restia giggles.

"Kamito, you seemed to catch her heart already."  
"It did seem like that."

(Hey, now... I don't even do anything to her.)

"Don't you think that she seemed like she need a friend?"  
"Um."  
Est agreed with Restia.

(Now that you say it...)

Claire didn't have a roommate.  
It looked more like the others are distancing themselves from her.  
Up until now, only Rinslet that did a decent talk with her aside from them fighting each other.

Kamito wondered why everyone behaving like that.  
If it's not for Rinslet, Claire will be alone until she became a full-fledged spirit user.  
Now that he thought about it, Rouge is a family name that he never heard before.  
Looks like that's the name that she made up due to a reason.

-For what reason?  
Even if he's curious, barging into other's family affair is a rude attitude.  
So he didn't dare to ask.

Claire kept on hearing the teacher's lecture.  
She's studying really hard.  
Kamito admitted it from the deepest part of his heart.

If Claire want, she can be a great elementalist.  
Kamito smiled at her.  
Claire who noticed it shrieked.

"W-What!? Why are you smiling like that? You're so creepy!"

"Nothing, I just thought that you're really a serious student."

"I-Idiot!"

She resumed her study.  
Kamito smiled again.

'You can do it, Claire.'

After school, they're heading back to the dorm, but Rinslet blocked their way.

"What is it again, Rinslet Laurenfrost!"

"I don't have a business with you, Claire Rouge. I have a thing to talk with this Kazehaya Kamito."

Kamito sighed.  
It must be something troublesome again he thought.

"I'm sorry Claire, but you can go back first."

"But... Do you know the way back?"

"Don't worry, I've memorized it."

And then Claire nodded timidly.  
She left Rinslet and Kamito alone.

"Shall we go?"

Rinslet led the way.  
Kamito followed her from behind.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll know soon."

Kamito followed her obediently, but something's wrong.  
He get a feeling that she's trying to pull out something funny.

"Rinslet, do you hate Claire?"

"... I'm not sure of it myself, but I don't like to lose to her."

Kamito didn't get what did she meant by lose.  
After they're walking for awhile, they reached the destination.  
Kamito's expecting to be brought to a place where no one's around, but he never expected that Rinslet will brought him to her room.

"Rinslet, why are we coming to your room?"

Rinslet locked the door and froze it with her ice.  
Kamito's having a bad feeling.  
Rinslet turned around and smiled at him.

Her maid, Carol's not around since she's ordered to wash the clothes.  
Now they're the only one in the room.

"Say, Kazehaya Kamito... Do you want to be my servant?"

"I said it before, I don...!?"

Right before his eyes, Rinslet leaned closer to him as she unbuttoned her cloth.  
Kamito can't believe that she's going to seduce him.  
Now that he noticed it, Rinslet's face is all red.

"You know, if you're embarrassed you don't have to do this..."

"W-Who's embarrassed? Anyway, you will be my servant, I've taken a liking at you."

Rinslet smiled naughtily even though her face is really red.  
Her cloth's fully unbuttoned, Kamito can see her light blue bra.  
Her blonde hair's waving gently as she leaned in.

"R-Rinslet, I don't think this is a good idea..."

"If you want to be my servant I will stop this..."

She gets even closer, to the point that their lips almost touched each other.  
Rinslet's face is the same as Claire's hair color, while Kamito's trying to hold back his lust.  
Anyone would be conquered by lust if they're put in this kind of situation, but Kamito still get a hang of himself.

So, he pushed Rinslet back gently on her shoulders.  
Rinslet's surprised.

"I'm sorry, Rinslet. But, I don't want to be a servant."

Kamito stood up and went toward the door, but his feet can no longer move when he almost reached the door which is frozen.  
When he looked down, his feet are frozen.  
The ice bound his feet.

"My, you're really hard to get, Kazehaya Kamito..."

Rinslet sighed.  
Looks like she get her confidence because of her beauty so she thought that any man will love her and obey her.

"But, that only made me even more interested in you..."

Rinslet circles around him as she looked at him with her emerald eyes.

"Rinslet, you'd better end this joke."

Kamito can free himself easily with Est and Restia, but that will expose his identity.  
Rinslet giggles as she look at him.

"If you want me to stop, why don't you summon your spirit? You're an elementalist, right?"

"That..."

Kamito can't tell her.  
That he's hiding his Ren Ashbell's identity.  
Even if he summon Est, in her knife form Est can't do much.

His last resort is to do a hypnotism to her.  
But judging from the current situation, hypnotism won't do much too since his hypnotism only able to make someone confess a truth.

Looks like he has no other choice.  
He intended to summon Restia and Est, but...

"KAMITOOOO!"

The door which is frozen exploded, and a girl with red hair rushed in.

"Claire-!"

"Kamito! *Gasp*! What are you doing to him, Rinslet Laurenfrost!"

"What a rude way to enter other people's room, Claire Rouge, me and Kazehaya Kamito are just about to engage in a romantic act."

"R-R-Romantic!?"

"Don't take her words just like that, Claire!"

Kamito frantically brought her back to her sense.  
Claire who regained her sense, angered.

"Y-You tricked me!? I'm going to turn you into cinders!"  
Claire glared at her.

"Hmph, come, I will freeze you solid."  
Rinslet smiled fearlessly.

"Like I said, don't just fight whenever you met each other! And free me from this ice first!"

"Oh, I forgot."

Claire remembered that Kamito's still bound by the ice.  
She summoned a fireball to melt the ice.

"Oh, thank you, Claire."

"Now, back to business- Hyawa!?"

When Claire looked back at Rinslet, going to fight again, Kamito restrained both of her arms from behind and pulled her out of the room as she made a cute sound.

"R-Release me, Kamito!"

"You can't fight here! You'll destroy everything!"

Rinslet smiled.  
And then...

"You're really wagging your tail at Claire Rouge, Kazehaya Kamito."

"I don't understand what you mean, but fighting here will results in both of you getting punishment, I'm simply preventing that."

Rinslet's eyes glazed the moment she heard those words.  
She looked at Claire.

"Claire Rouge, who's Kazehaya Kamito to you?"

Claire's dumbfounded as she stop struggling.

"Kamito? He's Re... Ow! I mean he's just my roommate! Hey, that hurts!"

Kamito gripped her shoulder quite hard when she almost blurt out something she shouldn't say.  
Rinslet who noticed that something's not right, smiles.

"I see, Claire Rouge, let's have a duel."

"Duel?"

Kamito asked in Claire's stead.  
If they're going to have a duel, most likely it would take place at Astral Zero.  
But they need to enter Astral Gate which they must have the permission to use it.

"I found an Astral Gate near the spirit forest, let's meet up at 10PM."

The next moment, the room's sealed with ice.  
They can no longer see her.

"A duel, huh? Interesting."

Kamito wondered what are they dueling for.  
But then, Est's voice can be heard.

"Kamito, you're really a demon king of the night."  
"Having 2 girls fighting over you... Sigh... You're really a lady-killer."

(What are you two talking about?)

"Shut up, lewd beast."  
"Nice words, holy spirit."

(Where did you learn that word, Est!?)

"None of your business."  
"Fufufu, this is getting interesting."

(Good grief... By the way where were you two? I didn't hear your voices before.)

"... Hmph."  
"We're simply tensed up seeing that blonde girl seduced you, fufufu, it's a great watch."

(... I think I will never have any privacy with you two around.)

Claire and Kamito walked back to Claire's room.  
Inside, Est and Restia manifests their human form.

"Finally we're able to manifest into human form..."

Restia stretched her body.  
Kamito noticed her chest's lifted as she did that.  
Est who saw him, poked his eyes.

"AAAAARRGGH! MY EYES!"

"... Pervert Kamito."

Est sulked.  
Restia's chest isn't very big, but they made men interested at them, including Kamito.  
Est hit Restia's shoulder lightly as she giggles.

"You're really friendly with your spirits, Kamito..."

"Ow ow... My eyes... Huh? That's because I'm already used to them, I can't really say it as friendly, though..."

Scarlet's rubbing her head at Kamito's leg as he pet her head.  
Restia wanted to pet her too, but Scarlet hissed at her.

"Mu... Kamito...!"

"Bear with it, Restia. It seems like she hates you."

"Indeed."  
Est added as she play with Scarlet using a Cat toy she found in the room.  
Claire who saw the scene smiles.

"Scarlet rarely being so friendly toward someone other than me, it looks like you're the type who's loved by spirits despite being a boy."

Claire sat next Kamito.  
Est puffed her cheeks as she hugged Kamito's right arm.  
Claire smiled wryly at Est.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything..."

Est nodded and let go of Kamito's hand.  
Kamito started to speak too;

"Claire, why are you two dueling? I think duel is not really a good way to decide things?"

"... It's because Rinslet and I are that close, that no way we can decide things except by this."

Kamito didn't understand what she meant.  
But Claire didn't look like she will provide any more explanation.

"I told you that Rinslet and I used to be friends, right?"

"Huh? Ah, now that you said it..."

"... I think I can trust you, don't be surprised when you hear it."

"I understand, what is it?"

Kamito didn't think that he will get any information that will made him surprised.  
But...

"... I'm actually from the Elstein Noble family."

"I see, ... What!?"

Now this information really surprised him.

Elstein.

It's the name of the noble family that's well known all over the world.  
Why? Because the eldest daughter of the Elstein family, Rubia Elstein, stole the strongest fire spirit and angered the Fire Elemental Lord that chaos was brought to the land.

Hence, she's known as the 'Calamity Queen'.

To atone for their daughter's sin, the Elstein family is being arrested.  
Claire being in this academy is probably because of Greyworth's influence.

"Back then, before Rubia nee-sama did something that can't be taken back, I befriend Rinslet."

"I see... So now that she's being mean probably due to 'Calamity Queen'."

Claire shook her head.

"I'm not sure of it myself, that's why I planned to ask her after we finished the duel."

"Fufufu, what an unexpected outcome."  
Restia giggles.

Est, still looked emotionless like always.  
Claire then smiled as she lay on her bed.

"Now, you'd better have a rest too, Kamito. You might be that Ren Ashbell, but you need to rest so that you can stay up late tonight."

"I'm totally-"

Before he can finish his words, Claire's already fell asleep.  
Kamito smiled as she covers her with a blanket.

"You should've change your clothes first."

"Pervert Kamito."

"Fufufu, how can you ask a girl to change clothes in front of you?"

"Meow."

Even Scarlet's protesting while scratching him.  
Kamito sighed as he recollect all of the information her received today.

(Hell cat Claire and Ice demon Rinslet... They're probably...)

Looking at the sky from the window, Kamito thought of something.  
But he's not really sure.

He lay down on his bed as he stretched his body.  
Scarlet curled up at him.  
Kamito laughed as he pet her head.

"Hey, your master's there."

But Scarlet didn't show any sign of moving.  
Looks like she grew an affection toward him.

Est who noticed it also lay down and hugged him from the other side.  
Kamito's face turned red as Est hugged him closer.  
No matter how she look, Est is still a girl.  
Kamito might not be able to endure it if she kept this on.

"He-Hey, Est?"

"I don't want to let you go, you're going to cheat with the hell cat if I'm not here."

'Just how did I cheat with a cat?'

Kamito thought.  
Restia also coming to his way.

"Oh my, I think I should join-"

""HIISSSSS!""

She hissed!  
Scarlet really hates Restia.  
To think that Est hissed along with Scarlet is more surprising.  
But strangely, Scarlet accepts Est.

"K-Kamitooo..."

Restia sulked.  
Which is very rare to see her like that.  
Kamito smiled wryly.

"I can't do anything, Restia. It's 2 on 1..."

"Kamito you idiot!"

Restia yelled.

"What's this noise... So noisy... K-Kamito!? What are you doing to Scarlet!?"

Claire woke up by Restia's voice and surprised to find her sleeping with Kamito.  
And so, they ended up not sleeping until 10PM.

 **Chapter 3 Hell Cat and Ice Demon end**


	4. Chapter 4 Hell Cat and Ice Demon II

Chapter 4 Hell Cat and Ice Demon II

"It's totally your fault." Said Kamito with a displeased look.

"I'm sorry, okay!? It's not like I'm not feeling bad at all…" Claire looked dejected as she spoke.

It's not like Kamito want to tease her, but he simply felt the urge to tease her since he possibly won't get the chance again in the future.

At the moment, they're walking together toward the appointed destination.

To avoid unnecessary attention, Kamito didn't let Est nor Restia to show themselves like usual. But it seems like he doesn't have to do that since there are not many people outside at this hour.

"Kamito, can we show ourselves now?" Restia asked within Kamito's mind.

"… Very well."

Not even one second after the granted permission, Est and Restia already materialized right behind him. Almost as if they already know the answer before Kamito need to tell them to.

"Is it really okay, Kamito? To let them show themselves like this?" Claire looks around restlessly.

"You don't have to worry about this, Claire. I was introduced as Kamito's girlfriend." Said Est emotionlessly.

"Eh—" Claire was speechless.

"Wha— Est!? I told you it was only to conceal my identity, right?!" Kamito almost fainted due to the sudden declaration.

"But that Rinslet girl already accepted that fact."

"Like I said…"

"…" Claire didn't say a word and calmly observe the exchange of words between Kamito and the demon slayer.

"… That sure surprised me…" Claire hold her hands close to her modest chest.

She's not feeling any negative feelings like jealously or anger, but it's a whole different feeling.

Even she can't comprehend what kind of feeling she's feeling at the moment.

"—Stop your useless chat Kamito, we're already running out of time."

"Ah… I'm sorry—?"

Kamito doesn't understand how Claire can react in that calm manner.

"My, does she interested you Kamito? Fufufu."

"—What are you saying, Restia? Stop that immediately."

"Fufu, as you wish."

Even though it's just a little, Kamito felt it.

That perhaps he's interested in Claire like what Restia told him just now.

"…" Est stares at Kamito's face calmly while silently clenching her fists.

After walking for a while, they finally reached their destination with Rinslet standing there.

"It looks like you're not going to run away, Claire Rouge."

"Who would run from an old hag like you? For your information, Kamito's only here to be a spectator."

"Old—!?"

Kamito face palmed.

He doesn't understand Claire's point to provoke Rinslet like that.

He already understood what's hidden behind Rinslet's provocative approach, but he wish to let Claire realize that Rinslet is actually a really good friend for her.

"… Grrr, like what I said before! We're going to fight in the Astral Zero, so get in without talking!"

Rinslet jumped in the Astral Gate without a second thought.

More importantly, she seemed to not notice Restia's presence at all.

"We're going in, Kamito. I'm going to settle things with her once and for all." Claire pulls his hand as she jump into the Astral Gate. Of course with Est and Restia following from behind.

(Is there no way to solve this matter in a peaceful manner?)

They arrived at Astral Zero safely.

What surround them are the ruins of destroyed civilization enveloped in the night sky.

It is a really sad view but the aurora in the sky made the view look strangely romantic.

"Here we can fight to our heart content, are you ready Claire Rouge?"

"Any moment."

Not intending to interfere with their duel, Kamito and the gang stood a little further so they won't get swallowed by the upcoming storm.

He can feel the hot and cold aura that's engulfing the battlefield.

(The duel— No, the Blade Dance will start soon.)

"I'm really looking forward for this." Restia sit on a nearby rock.

"You're really enjoying this aren't you, Restia?" Kamito can't help but sigh.

"… Claire will lose."

"Eh?"

Not understanding what Est mean by that declaration, the fight already started.

 **-Undying Ice that freezes the flames itself, come and obey my orders!**

 **-Guardian of the Crimson Blaze, keeper of the undying hearth! Now is the time to abide by the blood contract, come forth and do my bidding!**

Both of the girls summoned their Elemental Waffe, a bow and a whip.

Kamito can't avert his attention now, since his purpose here is to make sure that their fight won't get out of control.

Even though he is still curious in what Est meant.

—Clash! Clash!

Claire struck down Rinslet's arrows as she pushed her way toward the archer.

Normally, it would be a disadvantage for a whip user to fight an archer due to their range of attacks.

But that only applies if they don't possess spirit's elemental power.

Claire chants a spell without stopping her guard attempts.

And when she found an opening—

"Fireball!"

"—!?"

Rinslet was caught off guard and the fireball managed to land a hit at her abdomen.

That hit was all it takes to let Claire get close to Rinslet in a breath.

"You're mine!"

Claire swung her whip that could've cut down a tree cleanly.

Claire was sure that she will get Rinslet now, but—

Rinslet is smiling.

"It's over." Said Est.

Restia at the same time smiles like she just watched a good match.

"*Gasp*! (Oh no!)" It was too late for Claire to notice what Rinslet is after.

"Ice Prison!"

Rinslet's surrounding gives a warm glow and the temperature drops rapidly.

Claire managed to take a leap to avoid the dangerous attack, but her right leg got caught by the ice mountain that took form in less than two seconds.

"—Claire!" Kamito can't help but call out for her out of worry.

Claire tried to melt the ice that caught her leg but it was totally futile.

With a calm expression, Rinslet jumped to the top of the ice mountain where Claire got caught.

"It's my win, Claire Rouge."

"…"

Claire hung her head.

As if she has lost her meaning to live.

She already knew from the start that she couldn't possibly win from Rinslet due to their elemental affinity. But she just can't back off out of pride.

After confirming that Kamito is not around, her lips opened.

"… Just like what you say, I've lost."

"…" Rinslet didn't say a word.

"I will not be a chicken, you can have Kamito for yourself. But make sure to treat him well—"

"—? What are you talking about?" Rinslet tilted her head.

"—Eh?"

Claire can't comprehend what Rinslet meant by that sentence just now.

"Isn't that why you're challenging me to a duel?" Claire asked her.

"Huh? I never mentioned such a thing. My reason to challenge you in a duel is—"

Rinslet walks closer to Claire and place her right palm to the Hell Cat's cheek.

"—To open your eyes."

"What… What do you mean?"

Claire couldn't understand just what is Rinslet's point.

Facing Claire's passiveness, she can't help but grit her teeth.

"Like-I-Say!"

"Kyaa!?"

Claire's shoulders shook.

"I want us to return like how we used to be! Is it that hard to understand!?"

"… Eh?" Claire was dumbfounded.

Long time ago, Claire and Rinslet used to be pretty close. But due to a certain childish incident they grew competitive and always arguing over the smallest thing possible.

To make it worse, the betrayal of Calamity Queen made their relationship worse than ever.

That's why Rinslet wants to repair their relationship as she can no longer watch Claire get bullied by every single student in Areishia Spirit Academy.

Since Rinslet's the only one who understood Claire's feelings more than anyone. Because she's the closest person Claire ever know after her sister.

"Return like how we used to be…?"

"I can no longer watch you suffer! Why must you hold everything inside by yourself!? I know it's hard on you, then why—" Rinslet stopped her sentence.

She should've known the answer even without asking.

The answer is obviously because the awkwardness of their relationship.

But strangely, her words reached Claire.

"… Rinslet, why do you care for me so much?"

"Of course, it's because I like you!"

"…" Claire's expression grew darker.

"Wait, it's not that kind of 'like' okay!? I mean I like you as a friend! Since…"

You're the only person I can be open to.

Rinslet can't speak out those words due to embarrassment.

But Claire understood it completely.

"—Hu-Humph! who wants to be close to you? I simply pity you because you looked like you're seeking attention too much."

"Wha—!?"

"However… I'm a little happy… That it seems like I haven't lose everything…"

A drop of tear fell from Claire's beautiful eyes.

She lost her family, her name, and she thought that there's nothing left for her again in this world. That's why it really touched her heart that someone's still there for her.

"… Moron…" Without waiting, Rinslet hugged Claire and lets her cry as much as she wants in her bosom.

Kamito who watched the scene without saying a word finally smiled.

"… Let us return, Est, Restia."

"You don't want to bring them with you?" Restia asked.

"There's no need to interfere with their moment of life. I think this outcome has already been predicted, huh? Est."

"Certainly." Said Est with a calm composure.

"Eh? You've predicted it? Does that mean only I who don't know about this?"

"Yes, since you're always so insensitive, Restia."

"Let's leave the darkness spirit behind, Kamito."

"Hey, wait! Umu… Don't leave me!"

And so, the little fight between the Hell Cat and the Ice Demon ended well.

R&R


	5. Chapter 5 Ellis Fahrengart

Chapter 5 Ellis Fahrengart

"Something has been bothering me for quite a while…"

"What is it, Claire?"

After making up with Rinslet, Claire's attitude turns out for the better.

She seemed to be calmer than ever, perhaps because she's finally freed from one of the weigh that has been weighing her all this time.

"I wonder… What exactly is your relationship with the headmistress?"

"—I knew this question will rise anytime soon. But I didn't expect you're asking that NOW."

"W-What? You thought I'm a slow thinker?"

"Not exactly, hm…"

Kamito turns toward Restia and Est.

"I think you should tell her."

Est nods in confirmation of Restia's words.

"… Okay, to me Greyworth is like a mentor."

"Mentor, you said… So she is the one who taught you fighting techniques?"

"Sort of, but that's not all…"

Kamito looked reluctant to tell Claire that Greyworth was the one who forced him to wear female clothes.

Since Kamito didn't want to catch too many attention back then.

"It's really a surprise to me… However, how did you end up as her disciple?"

"It's because that old hag saw those two when she was on a mission." Kamito points Est and Restia.

"Who knows how, but Greyworth seems to be able to differentiate between normal human and spirit that took human form. That's how she caught and force trained me even though I was unwilling to do so. Maybe she thought I was a rare catch? And because of her 'training', I can't seem to like her no matter what…" Kamito sighed.

True enough, there's no male elementalist known before Kamito. But there's no reason for Greyworth to train Kamito, that's why he's curious what is Greyworth trying to take out of him until now.

Even though there's a legend about Demon King Solomon who is also a male elementalist… Still, that is just a mere legend.

And so, Kamito became the first male elementalist ever.

"I don't really understand the circumstances between you two, but I guess I will not pry into your business any further." Claire lay down on her bed.

"Thanks, this topic isn't really a likeable topic for me after all. So? How did things end up with RInslet?" Kamito smiled a little as he sat on his bed.

Kamito could see Claire's blushing face.

"Uhum…! Well… We did make up and promised to not cause trouble to each other… Er… How should I say it…" Seeing Claire fidgeting due to embarrassment, Kamito can't hold his laughter and end up laughing at Claire.

"Wha—! Why are you laughing at me!"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm just thinking that you looked cute when you blush like that."

"Cu—"

Claire's face went redder.

Est and Restia who are silent until this moment sighed.

"Kamito's really a womanizer, isn't he?"

"I must agree at this point." Est nods.

Even though he heard Restia and Est's words, Kamito decided to ignore them.

Kamito didn't plan to flirt with Claire, it's just a matter of fact that Claire got a cute face.

However, deep inside he hope that Est will not hate him for this.

...

"…" Greyworth is currently flipping through the pages of her extremely thick book.

"Headmistress, I think you should take a rest…" Said one of her guard who looked like she is about to collapse.

It's already 3AM after all.

"I'm fine, you can go to your room and take a rest."

"… My apology, headmistress."

Even though she's unwilling, her body won over her loyalty.

With a huge yawn she exited the principal's room.

"… Very soon, a huge storm is going to arrive. I guess 'Ren Ashbell' isn't the only one I need to watch out for." Said Greyworth the moment she closed her book.

She walks to the window and stare at the moon.

"Kamito, it seems like you will have a hard time no matter how strong you are at the moment—"

...

At the morning.

Kamito stretches his body lazily as he slowly gets up.

Claire on the other hand already finished changing and ready to go any time.

"Kamito, hurry up or we're going to be late for the class."

"You don't have to rush, we still got one and half hour before the class started you know?"

"Even so, it's not commendable to arrive at the last minute since there will be uncomfortable stares."

Kamito decided to not waste any time arguing with Claire and went straight to the bathroom.

"Okay, now I will wash your back Ka—"

"—Not on my watch." Just when Restia is about to follow Kamito, Claire held Restia's shoulder so that she can't move an inch from her spot.

"Ehh? Why are you stopping me, Claire? I'm just a spirit you know?" Restia tries to fool Claire, thinking that Claire's easy to fool with.

"No is a no, even though you're a spirit it still doesn't change the fact that you're a female. So sit here quietly or I will force you out of my room. Do note that you're a freeloader."

"Muu…" Restia pouted but she didn't resist and sits quietly like a kid.

Claire seemed to keep a tight watch for Restia and loosen up around Est.

That's when Est slips out and followed Kamito into the bathroom.

"Ah… No matter how many times I get in, bathing in a huge bathtub really is so comfortable." Kamito stretches his legs in the bathtub leisurely with his eyes closed.

Even so, he can't bath for too long or he will be late for class.

Just when he's about to get out of the bathtub—

"You looked like you're really enjoying this." Est said.

"Eh—?"

Kamito didn't expect to hear Est's voice since Claire seem to be keeping watch of the girls outside.

"E-Est—!?"

Est quickly covers Kamito's mouth while placing her index finger in front of her lips.

"Be quiet. She will hear you."

(No, more like why did you come in?) Is what Kamito trying to say.

Without waiting for Kamito's permission, Est gets into the bathtub and sit beside Kamito.

They used to bath together until three years ago, but as Kamito grows he started to get conscious of Est as a woman.

That's why he forbids both of Restia and Est to not get into the same bath as him.

"… What are you trying to accomplish, Est?" Kamito couldn't face Est with his face red.

"Nothing, I only felt like bathing together." Said Est without any expression.

Her stare made Kamito feel restless. Not to mention Est is stark naked now.

They stay silent for about three minutes until finally Est opens her mouth.

"Kamito… What do you think of Claire?"

The question caught Kamito off guard, as he never expected Est to ask such a thing.

"—? Where did that come from?"

"Because you seem to care for her a little too much."

Kamito found it unusual for Est to care about such a thing. But he can make a prediction that perhaps Est got jealous since Claire always get his attention.

"How should I say it… To me, Claire is just like my little sister."

"You didn't see her as a woman?"

"Not really, you remember about Muir? Claire gave the similar aura as her."

Back at the institution Kamito also had a girl who he treated as his little sister, since she always followed him wherever he go and called him 'Big Brother'.

"I see… _(Whispers)_ …"

"Hm?"

"What is it?"

"No, nothing…" Being asked in the face, Kamito can only avoid the question.

Kamito thought Est just whispered something, but he decided to not pursue the issue any further.

"By the way, Kamito."

"What is it, Est?"

"Do you think—"

Before Est could finish her sentence, The bathroom's door slammed open.

"Kamito! Est! Why are you two taking a bath together!?" Claire who finally noticed that Est is missing found the two of them bathing together.

"Ah." Est replied.

"Not 'Ah.'! Get out of here now!"

And so, Kamito ended up not knowing what was Est trying to say.

…

After the commotion ends, Kamito and Claire meet up with Rinslet who's waiting for them in front of the Academy gate.

"You guys are late!"

"I don't think it's a matter of late? You just came too early." Said Kamito who noticed that they still got thirty minutes before the class even started.

"Never mind that, it seems like we're going to have a test today. Have you studied last night, Rinslet?" Claire asked Rinslet.

"A test? What test?"

"…" Claire quietly pressed her palm to her face.

For a moment, Rinslet seemed like she didn't understand what Claire is talking about.

Until finally she remembered what the teacher told them yesterday…

"A… Awawa…"

"Seems like you're going to fail this subject, huh?" Claire sighed.

It was at this moment, that Claire noticed two girls in armor laughed at them.

"Not studying even though today we're going to have a test, as expected of the Raven Class."

"It's not like they're not studying, they just forgot that today we're having a test."

"To forget such an important day, they sure are ignorant, huh?"

"I know right, hahaha!"

Kamito wants to say something, but someone's calling for the two girls.

"You two, it's not polite to laugh at other people like that. Every single person has their own problem, got it?"

(Woah, she's so gallant…) Kamito thought to himself.

The girl's blue hair stands out so much in comparison with her breast plate.

She got beautiful pair of eyes and her skin is smooth.

Her posture is so straight that even a man could get embarrassed.

With a sword on her waist, she really looked like a model knight.

"Mi-Miss Ellis!?"

"We're very sorry! We didn't really mean it!"

"If you're really one of the Sylphid Knights, don't show such an embarrassing behavior that will stain the name of Sylphid Knights. You're now dismissed." Said the girl called Ellis.

"P-Please excuse us!" Both of them quickly leave the scene.

After a moment of silence, Ellis turns around to face Kamito and the girls.

"Thanks for the unnecessary help, Ellis Fahrengart." Claire said.

Kamito couldn't understand why Claire is being rude despite being helped just now.

"I'm really sorry for my juniors' behavior. They're still young so I really hope that they will change for the better." Ellis bows to Claire as she speaks.

"Good thing that you arrived on the right time, if not we might've engaged into a fight." This time Rinslet's barging in.

Kamito is still new to the academy, so he doesn't understand a bit about what's going on inside.

But, he just can't accept the girls' behavior.

"You two, do you even realize that you're being helped?"

"…"

"…"

None of the girls care about Kamito's opinion, just when he's about to get angry…

"It's okay, Kazehaya Kamito."

"But—"

"I shall excuse myself."

Without waiting for Kamito's reply, Ellis left the scene too.

Her ponytail sways as her body disappears into the building.

After confirming that Ellis is gone, Claire opens her mouth.

"It's not like we're not feeling grateful for her help, but we just can't help but to get irritated over her attitude."

"What do you mean?" Kamito asked.

"Didn't you see it? She's suffering because she held her feelings deep inside her. No matter how much she wants to be able to associate with her friends, she can't. Because she is a model knight for the Sylphid Knights." Rinslet said who sighed helplessly.

Hearing Rinslet's explanation and the way Ellis act just now, Kamito finally get a grasp of what is happening.

"—As a model knight, huh…"

Deep inside Kamito's heart, he wanted to help Ellis.

He understands how Ellis felt, but he does not have the reason to help her.

"The reason we're being rude to her is none other than trying to get her angry with us." Claire said with a snort.

"That way, maybe she can be more open with her feelings." Rinset closes her eyes.

"I see…"

Kamito misjudged the situation.

He thought that the girls are just trying to make enemy of Ellis.

But it seems like they're more caring than they looked like, even though maybe their way is too harsh for a normal person to take.

"Say, girls. Do you guys want to befriend Ellis?" Kamito asked.

"Here comes the demon of the night." Restia giggles inside his mind.

"Kamito is really being Kamito." Est sighed.

Claire and Rinslet who can't hear the spirits' voices look at each other and nod their head.

"I'm not sure if I may succeed, but I will try to find a way, so that you guys can get along with her. Because I too, feel like she can be a good friend."

No one can be sure if Kamito might succeed or not, but the girls just want to trust in Kamito.

Because he looked like he is sure that he can do it.

R&R


End file.
